Latest Talking Tobacco Blog Posts

I was recently sent a copy of a new book, Sherlock Holmes as a Pipe Smoker, by its author Dr. Thomas Gwinner. Since Sherlockiana is one of my hobbies, I was intrigued by the subject as much has been made about the references to pipes, tobaccos, cigars and cigarettes in the Canon. What made this […]

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I’ve put together a number of “tribute” blends. One of the first Hearth & Home Signature Series tobaccos, Old Tartan, was an homage to what my father used to smoke. I did a number of these kinds of blends, including BlackHouse, WhiteKnight and Fusilier’s Ration. I may have opened myself up to criticism as people […]

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As some of you may know, I’ve been involved in blending tobacco for nearly 40 years, and I can remember to this day the first time I opened a package of Perique and smelled it. The deep, dark, fruity aroma hit me like a ton of bricks, and I salivated from the intensity of it. […]

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A customer wrote and asked me to write about pipe cleaning basics. I’ve written recently about what you shouldn’t attempt, now let’s look at an everyday cleaning. For the sake of covering all our bases, we’re going to approach this as if you found one of your grandfather’s old pipes which had been heavily smoked […]

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In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like many, I remember that rhyme from my early school days. A time when history came out of a book, and no “Wiki” appeared in its title or text. While it’s nice to have the hyper-linked world at our finger tips, one must wonder just […]